The GoLocal Project

The Sonoma County GoLocal Cooperative, is a community stakeholder alliance composed of businesses, individuals, non-profit organizations, and government entities committed to reclaiming local economic power by...

  • Educating the community on the benefits of supporting a resilient, thriving local economy
  • Engaging all community stakeholders by providing ownership in the cooperative and process
  • Formalizing and strengthening community relationships
  • Sustaining well-being through community reinvestment and enterprise incubation

Efforts to start a network of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) to support locally-owned businesses in Sonoma County originally coalesced in September of 2006 with the formation of BALLE Sonoma County as a non-profit organization. As the enterprise began to grow, the limitations of the non-profit structure became apparent. After a brief period of restructuring by the founding team, along with the addition of some fresh talent, the Sonoma County GoLocal Cooperative was born. For more information visit http://sonomacounty.golocal.coop.

The GoLocal Vision

Build a resilient, thriving local economy in Sonoma County that supports people and the planet through economic localization.

How We've Helped

Even before Sustaining Technologies officially formed in February 2009, we were actively involved in the development of Sonoma County’s BALLE network and its transition to the GoLocal Cooperative.  Some highlights are . . .

  • Helped form the GoLocal Cooperative in 2008.  Developed bylaws for GoLocal, adopted by the board in December 2009, that will eventually allow members to invest in community businesses through GoLocal’s cooperative structure.
  • Facilitated growth from 35 to 175 business members and from 0 to 300 individual members in a year and a half.
  • Raised $80,000 in grants to seed GoLocal, developed a strategy to make the organization operationally viable by 2011, and have implemented operational procedures and a marketing strategy to ensure success.
  • Created a community web platform with integrated rewards card that fulfills the specific needs of relocalization networks, with platform administration built into our operational procedures.
  • Developed a clear plan for implementing a holistic community economic system, including community credit clearing and small business development with local investment capital.